2022 Speakers
2022 Keynote Speaker - Luke Clausen
Luke Clausen is a sophomore at Drake University majoring in International Relations, Multimedia Journalism, and Magazine & Brand Media and minoring in Politics, Arabic, and Entrepreneurship. Luke currently works at the Branstad Churchill Group, a consulting firm focused on US-China relations, as well as a variety of campus jobs, including helping to coordinate Drake's Ambassador-in-Residence Initiative and reporting, writing, and editing for the student newspaper, The Times-Delphic, and political magazine, Drake Political Review. Additionally, Luke currently serves as an Iowa United Nations Association College Ambassador, where he advocates with other College Ambassadors for the UN and its programs.
Roundtable Discussion Leaders/Guest Experts, 2022:
Economic Topic - Lanon Baccam is Deputy Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services at the United States Department of Agriculture, overseeing the Farm Service Agency and Risk Management Agency. He also serves on the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants' Des Moines Advisory Committee. Baccam is the son of Inh and Bounmy Baccam, Taidam refugees from Laos who arrived in Iowa in 1980. Baccam was born in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and is a 1999 graduate of Mt. Pleasant Community High School and 2011 graduate of Drake University in Des Moines, IA. Baccam is a military veteran and spent eight years in the U.S. Army and Iowa National Guard and was deployed to Afghanistan in 2004-2005.
Science Topic - Kamyar Enshayan is an agricultural engineer and has worked in developing sustainable local food systems in Iowa since 1997. Kamyar works with UNI's Local Food Program with the goal of strengthening Iowa's local food economy through our purchasing habit of supporting local food and farm enterprises. In 2008, he received the Sustainable Agricultural Achievement Award from Practical Farmers of Iowa. He teaches courses about the food system as well as the future of energy; he is the director of Center for Energy & Environmental Education at University of Northern Iowa. From 2003-2011, people of Cedar Falls, Iowa elected him as a member of the Cedar Falls City Council.
Political Topic - "Dr. Eduardo Magalhaes is the Ruth Harp Chair in Political Science and the director of Latin American Studies at the Simpson College, in Indianola, Iowa. He specializes in international relations, comparative politics, and minority politics in the United States. In addition to his teaching and research role at Simpson College, Dr. Magalhaes serves as the advisor to the Midwest Model UN team and as a coach for Simpson’s debate team. Most recently, Dr. Magalhaes has been developing a “Reacting to the Past '' game set in the Brazilian Constituent Assembly of 1987."
Social Topic -